Aussie Road Trip
-
The Final Chapter
There had been two different groups to visit the Grampians while I was living at the hostel Landing Pads in Melbourne. I didn’t manage to go with either party and was excited Looci and I had elected to end our holiday with a couple hiking days there. The delightful heat we had enjoyed thus far had vanished, replaced by a cold, biting wind. Still as we climbed the rocky terrain to Hollow Mountain, I built up a sweat. The trail was a clearly marked dirt track, at least for the first five minutes. Then it gave way to stone steps; after a while it was difficult to determine whether there…
-
Adelaide
Mosquitos are just little assholes, with no sort of decency. It had been a couple days since my last yoga session, and after the long drive across the Nullarbor both my mind and body were in need of a little TLC. I had already sprayed my exposed skin with repellent. Did the mozzies care? No! Of course not! They began biting me through my clothes and even tried to assault my face. I had to abandon my practice after only ten minutes and retreat to the van till morning. Kimba was a van friendly town, with multiple camping options including showers. Since we were quite close to Adelaide, and miraculously…
-
My Favorite Beach in Oz
If ever there was a time when I felt like I was in Oz, it was driving through the south of WA (Western Australia). Bright yellow flowers blanketed the hills, leading us towards the Emerald City…or in our case Esperance. With time running faster by the day, we skipped the vineyards south of Perth and cut east. Esperance was a quiet town with pretty sea views and a prim shore park with all the markings of a progressive city. We spent the day at the park overlooking the bay, under the picnic table shelters. People flowed in and out, visiting a collection of resident food trucks. Looci worked on some…
-
Perth Unexpected
I liked Perth way more than I had anticipated. It was a city to be certain, yet it maintained a homey, small town vibe. Every neighborhood we explored was, for lack of a better word, adorable, with their quaint painted store fronts and eclectic eateries. Greenery appeared to be an integral part of the city, which cut down on the concrete jungle feel. Not to mention all the reserves and National Parks surrounding the city. Oh, and let’s not forget the pristine beaches that were actually safe to swim in. It took less than a day before Looci and I were both saying we wished we had moved to Perth…
-
The Faces of Kalbarri
We slept at the base of a lighthouse, the waves crashing onto the beach and sending spray over the dusk-lit dunes. Officially, there were only six over night spots, but we arrived too late to grab one and had to risk being told off by a park ranger. The day had been long, full of wonders and unexpected surprises. Kalbarri National Park was right on the coast and had a variety of scenic views. As we drove, I was perplexed by how flat the terrain was and wondered how there were any hikes at all. We were keen to visit Nature’s Window, a lookout high above one of the gorges.…
-
Holiday Daydreams
After a night of cockroach infested toilets, we rose early and made a beeline for the quiet beach town of Coral Bay. The bay looked like a turquoise color swatch from Bunnings (the Lowes of Australia); only the hues blended seamlessly with the changing depth. It was visually intoxicating. The water was calm, creating an ideal environment for snorkeling and swimming, though a soft breeze threatened to break the tranquility. We took our time making French toast, unfortunately we were out of the fresh loaf we had used in Broome. The tide had inched its way in, and Looci went to lay on the beach while I set out my…
-
Karijini
It hadn’t taken long to realize Western Australia was not as accessible as other parts of Australia, and the organized tours were quite expensive. Places like the horizontal waterfalls and the Bungle Bungle Range were upwards of six hundred dollars a piece. That simply wasn’t in my budget, nor did we have the time to go on a three-day off-roading excursion to get there. In a way it was a blessing that Hagrid was a two-wheel drive vehicle, because it limited our options. I think I would have found it harder skipping parts of the country if I knew I had the means of getting there. Ultimately, I decided that…
-
Broome
Broome was entirely different from what I expected. I had imagined a sandy coastal town full of hippies and palm trees. There were definitely hippies, and plenty of sand, but unless you were at the beach surrounded by turquoise water, it felt like any other red Outback town in the center of the country. There are a few special things that set Broome apart from other Northern Territory (NT) seaside towns. One was the stairway to heaven which only happened for a short period of time every month when the moon hit the water at the exact angle to create the illusion of a stairwell of light. Unfortunately, we were…
-
Kicking Up Dust
During a road trip there are plenty of long driving days through the middle of nowhere. After a while every song on the radio sounds the same, and eventually it is just white noise complementing the endless drone of the engine. The only thing that breaks it up is something to look at. As we approached the border between the Northern Territory (NT) and Western Australia (WA) I noticed a change in the endless loping red dirt hills and scraggly trees. Rocks rose from the earth, giving it form, structure, and depth. Bulbous, leafless, grey trees stood like solitary sentries watching over the Outback. I had an instant fondness for…
-
Lovely Litchfield
As drove down the dirt road towards a plume of smoke, I found myself praying it wasn’t coming from Litchfield National Park. Since arriving in the north of the Northern Territory (NT) there had been endless days of smoke polluting our lungs. I understood it was vital to the maintenance of the environment, but I grew up in a fire prone area and whenever there was a big burn school was cancelled and alerts were released due to the poor air quality. I was enjoying my time in the Northern Territory and all of the amazing natural pools, but my lungs were not happy hiking in the smoke. Compared to…
